


And So The Wheel Turns

by Ribbons_Undone



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Death as a concept, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Not Really Character Death, Season 8, Supernatural AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26225767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ribbons_Undone/pseuds/Ribbons_Undone
Summary: What happens when one dies? The answer may surprise you...Or... that one where Cas dies. But doesn't. Look, it's complicated, okay?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	And So The Wheel Turns

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of a concept than a fic... something that has been bugging me since I started watching Supernatural. The whole 'killing angels and demons' thing has always bothered me cuz...they are supposedly already 'dead'. So what's the skinny on Death? This fic addresses that question. Basically an AU for the beginning of Season 8 (spoilers!) and what may have happened to Cas if the angels hadn't saved him from Purgatory. 
> 
> Or.... the thing I wrote when I thought they'd offed Cas again and I was upset. Doesn't fit the canon (thus, AU) but I liked the concept, so...here you go. ;)

* * *

Where does one go when one dies?

...

...

...

Castiel opened his eyes.

Above him rose a pale blue sky, dotted with small white wisps of clouds. They grated across the sky, moving in the air. _Air_. There was air above him.

Castiel breathed in.

Air rushed up his nose, down his throat, into his lungs. _Lungs._ They were moving.

Castiel opened his mouth to speak.

Nothing came out. He coughed, clearing his throat but stopped short of trying again. There was a sound off to his left. _Sound_. He could hear rushing water.

Castiel turned his head.

There was indeed a stream next to him, flowing across and between large pebbles. He watched as it bubbled and splashed against the smooth stones, sunlight glinting off its surface. His gaze dropped to the blur of tan fabric in his peripheral. _Arms_. His arm lay out to the side of him, outstretched and palm up.

Castiel lifted his hand.

It came easily, drawing up and forward. It felt light, like it wasn’t really there. Like it was an apparition rather than a hand. He brought it to his face and felt wetness at his cheeks. _Tears_. He was crying.

Why was he crying?

Castiel dragged his fingers down his cheek to his lips. There they paused, remembering. _Memories_. He remembered.

Castiel spoke.

“Dean.”

Where was Dean? Dean got out. Out of Purgatory. Safe. Dean was safe. He prayed that Dean was safe. _Pray_.

To what God did he pray?

Castiel pushed himself up to a seating position and drew another ragged breath. It came easier this time, throat and diaphragm relaxing once they remembered the feeling of air drawing in through the body. _Body._ This was still his body.

He had died. He was sure he had died.

“Castiel.”

A voice. Castiel turned toward it. Before him stood a figure of a woman. He squinted at her.

“I don’t know you,” Castiel said.

“I am an angel, like you,” the woman replied.

“Like me?” Castiel croaked. His voice grated against his throat, raw and burning. Like the air in Purgatory, heavy with the smell of freshly ripped flesh and blood. The tar-like stench of the Leviathan searing the air, sticking to it like goo...

“Yes, like you.”

The angel's voice snapped him out of the flashback. Castiel looked up at her.

“I died.”

Castiel looked down at his hands. They were the same hands that had opened the door to Purgatory. He looked back up at the angel.

“Did I die?” he asked.

“Yes,” the angel answered, “And no. I’m afraid it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Please tell me anyway,” Castiel insisted, “Where am I?”

“You are in heaven,” the angel replied. She seemed amused by the question.

“Yes, of course,” Castiel said, “But why?”

“Because you died,” the angel answered him.

Castiel’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.

“I don’t understand.”

“You died, and you came here. To heaven,” the angel explained.

“Yes, but…how?” Castiel asked. “I died in Purgatory. How am I here?”

“You are an angel, a righteous soul. Heaven is where righteous souls go when they die.”

“Yes, I know all of this,” Castiel said. He nodded his head and drew air out through his nose, growing frustrated. “I do not understand,” he said again.

“Natural order,” the angel said, “When a human dies, they either go to heaven or hell. When a creature dies, they go to Purgatory. But what happens when a demon dies in hell? What happens to a vampire when it dies in Purgatory? Or when an angel dies in Heaven?”

“You are telling me…they go someplace different?” Castiel surmised.

“Yes. And you came here.” The angel smiled. “Be joyous, Castiel. It is not often that a soul rises from Purgatory.”

“How does one…become alive again?” Castiel asked. He meant Earth, human, but the angel misinterpreted.

“One is born. Or one dies. It depends on where you are. When a demon dies, it is sometimes reborn as a human infant. Sometimes it is reborn as a creature. It depends on the soul.”

“If it is reborn a human, it dies and goes to heaven or hell…becoming a demon or an angel. If it is born a creature, it dies and goes to purgatory. If it dies in purgatory, it can go to heaven or hell…”

“You are understanding,” the angel said in praise.

“And the way for an angel to become human…” Castiel said.

“You know this one,” the angel prompted.

Castiel drew a breath.

“He falls.”


End file.
